Members of a crisis-center outreach program are heading up a summer benefit concert in Southern Utah for the fourth year in a row.

Washington County Youth Crisis Center's TEAM RAW (To Educate and Motivate the Ready and Willing) is hosting Summer Slam 4 on Thursday. Proceeds from the concert will benefit Morgan Clifford, a 9-year-old St. George boy who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The performance also will honor Kolei Maile, a former TEAM RAW mentor and Pine View High coach who died in December.

The Summer Slam events serve a dual purpose. Not only do they raise money for local families in need, but they also give youth who are part of TEAM RAW a chance to give back to their communities in a meaningful way.

In preparation for this year's Summer Slam, TEAM RAW performed at numerous residential treatment and rehabilitation centers.

Alii "Bear" Alo, a youth services counselor at the county crisis center, said the children who are part of TEAM RAW come from "all walks of life and all situations," adding that the group is an outreach program that reaches children who are struggling economically or emotionally.

TEAM RAW will perform alongside Buck Ford and Junior Maile on Thursday from 6 p.m. to midnight at Staheli Family Farm. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for youth.

Teaching kids how to give what wasn't given to them

Each summer for the past four years, the youth of TEAM RAW have participated in the Summer Slam in an effort to learn about life skills through music and song.

One of the last "practice" stops before Thursday's main event was St. George Rehabilitation on Tuesday afternoon. Kids sang, dance and performed musical numbers for the patients. The entertainment ranged from rap medleys to contemporary dance to an acoustic cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude."

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Members of Team RAW visited St. George Rehabilitation on Tuesday, July 31, 2018, to perform.(Photo: Chris Caldwell / The Spectrum & Daily News)

Brook Matthews, a youth outreach mentor with TEAM RAW, said one of the most rewarding parts of the Summer Slam program is watching the kids get to know and take care of each other.

"The point of Summer Slam is to give these kids a place to be, especially in the summer, where they have the opportunity to be proud of themselves and have a place where they can showcase what they're good at and a place where they belong," Matthews said.

Some of the children in TEAM RAW struggle with instability, either emotionally or economically, in their home and family lives, Matthews said. TEAM RAW aims to help youth emerge from less-than-ideal situations as well-adjusted young men and women.

"All the kids we work with are so different, but when they're TEAM RAW, they're all the same," Matthews said. "They support each other and try to give to someone else and give them something they haven't had themselves."

Performing at St. George Rehabilitation

All the youth who perform with TEAM RAW are self-taught, and they regularly perform and practice to receive feedback and hone their performance skills.

St. George Rehabilitation was the first rehab center at which the youth performed. Matthews and Alo said it was heartwarming to see the youth interact with the elderly patients.

"They're like in a foreign country right now," Alo said as he looked at the kids talking with the older men and women. "That's the type of service and care for the community we're losing with these kids."

Alo said the adult mentors instructed the teens to "turn in" their cellphones before entering the facility so they could maximize their time with the patients by asking them questions and listening.

Dominic Southerland, an 18-year-old peer mentor at TEAM RAW, said he has been involved with the Summer Slam events since 2014. He helps find kids who are struggling with life situations at home or on the streets or even those kids who are simply "in a bubble."

"I kept loyalty to the program, and it was way bigger than we ever expected," Southerland said. "It's about seeing all these kids come from where I used to be in this small bubble, not knowing how to do anything, and now they're popping it."

For Southerland, giving back to the community is the whole point of the Summer Slam program.

"We don't have to give back, but at the end of the day, you want to give back because that good spirit is all around us and all the kids," he said. "We're all a family."

Matthews said, "These kids are unbelievably powerful, and I don't think they realize how powerful they are. It's really awesome to see them see that in themselves and share that power with others. It's light, it's energy, it's caring for other people, and the Summer Slam program has been an awesome place for us to see that."